Labour Should Abandon Their Cuts to Vulnerable Children

Before Christmas I went to visit the Southampton Young Carers Project, a service at risk of being axed by the new Labour Council Administration.

The Young Carers Project supports some of the most vulnerable families in the city. The project supports 120 brave young children who look after sick or disabled family members. It gives them valuable respite, puts on trips for them and helps to give them a childhood despite the pressures of family life.

Labour announced in November that they will withdraw the full £89,000pa that the council currently gives to the service. This would mean that in April the service will be cut off at the knees, with no time to find alternative sources of funding to keep it going.
Labour’s budget cuts have disproportionately hit services to children in Southampton and cuts like the Young Carers Project will not save money in the long run and instead will put more pressure on families, leading to more family breakdown and children being taken into care.

Local Conservative Councillors are calling on Labour to abandon their plans to cut the service.